No, it is not a syllogism. It lacks a middle term.
Again, to use the basic syllogistic example:
All men are wise
Socrates is a man
Therefore, Socrates is wise.
Three terms: Socrates; man; wise.
Note that the middle term of 'man' appears in both the major and minor
premises. Your IF-THEN proposition does not have a middle term.
Your attempt to say that he is transformed by the argument [Note: I dislike
political correctness; the pronoun 'he' is gender neutral'] doesn't introduce a
third term.
And
Your example has no middle term. Furthermore, it has FOUR terms:
A, C, surprise, suspicious.
There's no such thing as a four-term syllogism. [Fallacy of Four Terms]
Edwina
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry Rhee
To: Edwina Taborsky
Cc: Peirce-L
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2016 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Is CP 5.189 a syllogism?
Thanks Edwina,
Is that the only objection?
So, the thing I think Peirce intended is that (surprise, suspect) is the
third term, because a person (B) is surprised or suspicious. That person is
the same, that is, one person but she is transformed during the argument.
So,
Surprise is C
A is C
Therefore, Suspicious is A
Does that work?
Thanks,
Jerry R
On Sat, Apr 23, 2016 at 7:13 PM, Edwina Taborsky <tabor...@primus.ca> wrote:
No, it is not a syllogism. A syllogism has THREE terms. Your example has
two. A syllogism is in the format of
Major Premise
Minor Premise
Conclusion
All M is P
S is M
Therefore S is P
--------------------------------------------------
Your example is in the form of Propositional Logic, or IF-THEN logic.
If p then q
p
Therefore q
Or, If A then C
A
Therefore C
This is called the modus ponens.
So, it would be
IF A is true, then C is a matter of course
[I surmise that] A is true
Therefore, C is a matter of course.
Edwina
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry Rhee
To: Peirce-L
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2016 7:12 PM
Subject: [PEIRCE-L] Is CP 5.189 a syllogism?
Hi everyone,
I'm trying to figure something out. I've convinced myself but am not
completely sure, so would like to work this out with the community.
I haven't read Aristotle. Are there steadfast rules to syllogism one
must never ever break or is there an essence? What is the intention of
syllogism?
Would you say the following is a syllogism? Why or why not?
The surprising fact, C, is observed.
But if A were true, C would be a matter of course.
Hence, there is reason to suspect that A is true.
Thanks for any input,
Jerry Rhee
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